When the kiss, at once brief and endless, came to an end, Turan was the first to pull away. The reason, absurdly enough, was that he could not breathe. His nose, broken by the beating moments earlier, was still clogged with blood, and now his mouth had been sealed as well.

"Hah..."

After taking a few breaths, Turan first set his nose with his hands, then used fluid manipulation magic to draw out the blood filling it. The bleeding only just stopped after he repeatedly gulped down restorative potion made with his magic tool.

Behind him, Maysa wiped her bloodstained lips and asked,

"... You're not thinking you can gloss over everything like this, are you?"

"Of course not."

Turan rose with a hearty laugh and met her still-swollen eyes. Her vivid blue irises glistened with tears.

He had known for some time that her affection for him had turned romantic. Such feelings were among the things a Zahar's nose could detect most keenly.

There were several reasons he had nevertheless left their relationship undefined. Growing too close might leave Solif, the third member of their trio, feeling excluded. And he had not been certain of his own feelings.

But retreating behind those excuses even now would be more than cowardly. It would be foolish.

"You're the only one I want as my partner, Maysa. No matter who comes from Zahar, I won't fall for her."

Partner. The first word to define their relationship was immeasurably weighty and sweet. There was no hesitation left in Turan's voice as he said it. Speaking the words aloud made him certain all over again that they were exactly how he felt. If anything, he wished he had said them sooner.

Maysa gave a low groan, buried her face in his chest, and said,

"... I'm sorry."

"What for?"

"Hitting you."

His injuries were rather more serious than a simple "hitting you" suggested. His face was badly swollen, perhaps from a shattered cheekbone, and even his nose had been broken.

Fortunately, he had suffered injuries this severe often enough in the dueling arena to have grown somewhat accustomed to them. In fact, when he had beaten Maysa into surrender there, he had inflicted even worse wounds.

"Well, I had it coming. What can I say?"

Had their positions been reversed, and Maysa announced that she would court some Arabion noble for strategic reasons, Turan would have gone half mad with jealousy himself. Though rather than beat her, he would probably have stormed Arabion's main house to assassinate the man.

Of course, he had his reasons for making the decision alone, without consulting her first. He had calculated that if he said he needed to discuss it with someone, Talis would realize just how important Maysa was to him—and that she could be his weakness.

"Hearing that makes me feel like I'm the only child here. Honestly."

"That's how we all grow up."

"You're younger than me..."

His quip drew a small laugh from Maysa. Had Solif, some thirty years older than either of them, seen them, he might have remarked that the children were certainly having fun.

After they had spent a long while teasing each other and sharing their warmth, Maysa spoke quietly.

"Don't be too harsh on that girl."

"The Zahar House Head's granddaughter?"

"Yes. She's being sold off, isn't she? We should at least treat her properly as a guest."

"Well, of course..."

Turan recalled his conversation with Talis. Hadn't he said that, like a cunning and ruthless Zahar noble, he knew what to prioritize and what to cut away? That had not been some careless lie.

If the young lady from Zahar quietly played her part in this performance for peace and then left, all would be well. But if she crossed that line, Turan was perfectly capable of becoming a monster.

* * *

When Turan and Maysa returned to Kalamap several hours later, they looked much as they had when they left, aside from the dirt covering them. Of course, his face still bore faint bruises, and his broken nose remained red and swollen. Even that was an improvement achieved by drinking from the restorative-potion magic tool until his belly nearly burst.

The two returned to a relationship no different from the one they had enjoyed before the Zahar nobles' visit. Or, more accurately, they seemed subtly closer and more comfortable with each other than before.

Kalamap's leading figures puzzled over what to make of this. In the end, Solif, who stood on equal footing with the pair and could therefore broach the subject, quietly asked Turan on everyone's behalf.

"... Hey, did you work things out?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Oh, we just did."

Asking Maysa elicited much the same response as asking Turan, so the truth remained shrouded in darkness. Yet everyone could tell that their relationship had definitely changed—that they were bound together more closely and firmly than before.

Once the unsettled atmosphere had calmed somewhat, Turan gathered the city's nobles to make a new announcement. He would be leaving Kalamap for a short while.

"For how long...?"

"Probably less than a week at most."

During his battle with the two vessels in the forest, Ymir's ice axe had struck Turan in the chest. Some of the ice flower that bloomed from the wound had pierced his lungs. Perhaps because of those injuries, he still sometimes coughed up blood, even though a fair amount of time had passed since the battle.

He had steadily drunk restorative potions and sought help from their sole Healer, but whether because his mana was too powerful or because the wounds had been inflicted by "divine magic," his lungs showed no sign of healing. What he needed was one of Ravista's high-ranking Healers. Since it was difficult for him to leave, he had recently written to Lida asking her to visit, but for some reason her reply said she could not get away just now.

In other words, to recover completely, Turan would have to go there himself.

"But everything from our watches to our emergency escape plans is geared toward Arabion. Are we sure we don't need to watch out for Zahar? I seriously doubt those bastards will keep their word."

Turan nodded at Solif's question.

"I can't guarantee it, but barring anything unusual, they should. We've already shown them our strength. And we've made the nonaggression pact public, so breaking it would damage their honor."

By imprisoning Kadram's soul, he had effectively gone halfway past the point of no return with Arabion, but no such deep-seated grudge yet existed between Turan and Zahar. More precisely, Turan knew Talis was his father's killer and harbored one-sided animosity, but the other side knew nothing of it.

Under those circumstances, the fighting strength his group had demonstrated here and proven in the forest battle was too great for Zahar to gamble against. Besides, he had shown himself willing to compromise rather than rampaging about and vowing to kill all the gods. In short, Turan trusted not Zahar's honesty or good faith, but the political landscape he had pieced together from the information he had gathered.

In that respect, even an Arabion attack was not particularly likely. The blow his group had dealt them in the previous battle had been that devastating.

After the meeting, Maysa patted the dust from Turan's back and said,

"Take care. We'll keep things safe here."

As she said, one reason he could afford this trip was that two people of comparable strength would remain behind. Turan nodded at the glimpse of golden armor beneath her neckline.

The Sky Guardian. That mighty Holy Relic, originally brought out by Kadram, was now worn beneath Maysa's clothes. If they went to the dueling arena with her wearing it, Turan would probably be more likely to lose.

Then, whatever she made of his gaze, Maysa looked a little embarrassed and lightly kissed his cheek. Watching beside them, Solif let out a strangled shriek and writhed.

* * *

After leaving Kalamap, Turan immediately climbed onto Vije and began flying southwest. Was she happy that they were flying alone together for the first time in ages? She flew far faster than usual, constantly humming songs in the voice inside his head that only he could hear.

-The silver-haired old man wove a net, inside a picture broken into pieces, and kept on telling fairy tales!

How long had he listened to that children's song, picked up who knew where? In a day and a half, Turan passed the boundary between the forest region and the Enril Desert and entered Shiraf Marsh.

Studying the scenery, he thought Merem, Ravista's capital, would soon come into view. Having visited fairly often, he could now distinguish at least some of the stretches of marsh that had once all looked alike.

'If I get the chance, I'd like to see how much the reclaimed land to the south has changed.'

Of course, that was out of the question when Kalamap's defenses were weakened for every moment of his absence. It would take considerable time just to travel there from Merem, and heading south would only make the journey back north that much longer.

One thing he had discovered recently was that some kind of spiritual current flowed into him from the south. When he activated his spiritual awareness, he could sense a steady flow of power from far to the south, somewhere the settlement probably lay. He did not yet understand how it worked, but it did not feel unpleasant.

Thus, at around the day-and-a-half mark, Turan landed discreetly near Merem, tucked Vije inside his body, and headed straight for Lida's mansion. Having spent quite some time here, he recognized the servant guarding the entrance.

"Oh, great one..."

"No need for formalities. Is Lady Lida in? Please tell her I'm sorry for arriving unannounced."

The servant looked troubled at his words.

"My mistress is not at the mansion."

"Is that so?"

In fact, Turan already knew through the Holy Relic's detection ability that Lida was absent. He had asked only out of courtesy.

"Then I'd like to stay until she returns. That should be all right, shouldn't it?"

"Well, the thing is..."

Turan frowned at the servant's hesitation. Lida had already told him he was welcome whenever he wished to visit, so surely admitting him should have been only natural.

After an unsettling hesitation, the servant led him inside. Turan washed away the grime from a day spent camping out and enjoyed a fine meal, then asked the maid attending him a question.

"Did Lady Lida happen to say when she would return?"

"Pardon? I-I don't really know."

For some reason, the question seemed to greatly fluster her. He asked several other servants similar questions afterward, but none could tell him what Lida was doing or when she would return. Only when he finally pressed the butler did he receive a satisfactory answer.

"Lady Lida has not returned to the mansion for several months."

"Several months?"

"Yes. To be precise, the last time was when she went to the main house to attend the welcoming banquet for the Baraha House Head's visit."

Turan's eyes narrowed.

"Yet I exchanged letters with her about two weeks ago."

"I delivered your letter to the main house and received her reply."

In other words, Lida was staying at the main house and could write letters, but could not return to her own mansion. Something about this smelled exceedingly suspicious.

"You don't know exactly what's happening?"

"No. All I know is that since the Baraha House Head came and departed, a considerable number of the main house's high-ranking nobles have been staying at our House Head's residence. As for what's happening inside, I really couldn't say..."

Several months earlier, the Baraha House Head had sailed across the South Sea toward Shiraf Marsh. At the time, Turan's group had merely guessed that something was wrong with his body and he might be seeking treatment. His absence was also what had allowed them to launch their surprise attack on Baraha's main house and extract Solif's parents.

Turan looked toward the Ravista House Head's distant residence, then spoke to the butler.

"I'll write a letter. Please deliver it to the main house so Lady Lida can read it."

The letter was simple. He had come because he needed Lida's help, and if she needed any assistance from him, he was willing to offer it.

Whatever problem required the high-ranking nobles to gather at Ravista's main house, unless it was resolved, Turan would have to remain at Lida's mansion. Otherwise, he would have to return to Kalamap empty-handed.

'This stay may last longer than I expected.'

The thought that Kalamap and the people precious to him might be endangered with every passing second of his absence made him restless. Having something to protect had its advantages and disadvantages.

At least he was not without a means of communication. That night, he soothed his worries by speaking to Maysa through the hand-mirror magic tool at their appointed time.

* * *

A response to the letter he had asked the butler to deliver arrived around noon the following day. Rather than write back, Lida sent someone who appeared to be a servant from the main house to invite him to the House Head's residence.

'I hope... this isn't a trap.'

If something was amiss, the Mimic Holy Relic's senses should alert him. Still, a trap would mean the ruin of his relationship with Ravista, so he could only hope it was nothing of the sort. Without their help, his only way to receive advanced treatment would be to kill a Healer and feed their mana to the Holy Relic.

Reaching the House Head's residence, Turan frowned at the presences he sensed within. He could see a dozen or so high-ranking nobles surrounding one powerful wizard who appeared to be Osel, Ravista's House Head.

'They all seem to be healing Osel. Could it be...?'

The arrangement immediately brought one possibility to mind. Soon afterward, when he went inside and met Lida, her appearance made him half certain.

"It's been a while, Turan. I'm sorry I couldn't come out to greet you."

"Not at all. It's only right that I come to you."

Seeing Lida for the first time in months, he found her still young and beautiful, yet strangely aged and weary, perhaps because of the worry on her face. He could tell that the flow of mana through her body had grown weak and unstable.

'She's exhausted from overusing healing magic. So it is what I thought...'

"Now, you said you needed my help?"

"Yes. I recovered from a serious injury in a recent fight, but there are lingering effects. I'd like to ask for treatment."

Lida hesitated before letting out a sigh. She seemed to find it difficult even to speak.

"I'm sorry, but I don't think that's possible right now."

"Because you're healing the House Head?"

"How did you...?"

Lida's face twisted in shock as he struck at the truth.

"You look exhausted from excessive mana use. If the other Ravista nobles have also gathered here and aren't coming out, I thought that might be the only explanation."

In truth, he had seen the answer through the Mimic Holy Relic and improvised a deduction to fit, but Lida had no way of knowing that. After a moment's hesitation, she nodded with a deep sigh.

"Yes, you're right. He was grievously wounded in a surprise attack by Baraha's House Head. We're doing everything we can to heal him, but all we can manage is to keep him stable. I'm sorry, but we have no mana to spare for healing you."

"It's remarkable that word hasn't spread."

If two House Head-caliber wizards from great houses had clashed with their full strength, especially if all their followers had joined in, the aftermath alone could easily have left half of Merem in ruins. Had that happened, Turan would surely have heard about it, no matter how far and wide he had been traveling.

"That's because the fight ended inside the palace. The place was built to be extraordinarily sturdy, so the effects never reached outside."

"You simply let the Baraha nobles leave alive?"

"My Osel is far too kind a child. He didn't want us dying in an attempt at revenge. So we had to let them go."

She explained that they had sent the Baraha wizards away, all but driving them out, but the flames clinging to Osel's body had refused to go out ever since. At first, he had endured by casting healing magic on himself. At some point, however, he had lost consciousness entirely, leaving Ravista's high-ranking nobles to pour all their strength into keeping him alive.

If Osel, the world's finest Healer, could not heal himself, this could be no ordinary attack. It was probably divine magic using a combination of symbols, or the effect of a powerful Holy Relic.

"Our one consolation is that the Baraha House Head was also quite badly hurt. He likely won't find it easy to recover either. Apart from us, there should be no one capable of using healing magic on someone that powerful."

"Do you know why he attacked?"

"His reason was that we had hidden Baraha's heir. He also spoke with Osel alone, but I didn't hear what they discussed."

In other words, Solif's presence had been one of the pretexts. Whether it had truly been the cause was uncertain, but it must surely have played a part. As Solif's friend, Turan bit his lip hard.

"By the way, what became of the favor I asked of you? Have you found any leads?"

The favor she had asked must be the search for Ravista's stolen Holy Relic. Hadn't she said they knew nothing beyond the thief having sailed away somewhere to the east?

He wondered only briefly why she had brought this up before realizing what she meant.

"That's the solution, then."

A Holy Relic that granted its user powerful healing and purification magic. That was a promising means of restoring Ravista's critically injured House Head.